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Should Spitzer get a portrait?

The question of whether disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer will ever see his likeness in the Hall of Governors was asked of several attendees Sunday, including Paterson, who said he would like to see Spitzer sit for a portrait some day.

The question of whether disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer will ever see his likeness in the Hall of Governors was asked of several attendees Sunday, including Paterson, who said he would like to see Spitzer sit for a portrait some day.

But what about ex-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Spitzer's Republican adversary and main opponent in those infamous three-men-in-a-room meetings?

When asked by reporters Sunday, Bruno turned the question back on reporters, asking each of them what they thought. When one said past protocol would suggest Spitzer could have a portrait if he so desired, Bruno said that was the "right answer."

"Whether the people liked or not what he did or didn't do, he was the governor of the state of New York," Bruno said. "That's a chronological history of the state of New York. He was, what, the 54th governor and you can't erase that."

Bruno, 84, was majority leader from 1994 to 2008, overlapping with Paterson's time as minority leader of the Senate from 2003 through 2007. He attended Paterson's portrait ceremony, and afterward spoke of Paterson's "ability to think, to communicate and to relate."

"I was at (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) two weeks ago or so, and I'm clean and neat," Bruno said. "I'm going back I think this month sometime for a checkup and then back in July for an MRI, and for the next three years they just watch you. So that's what they're doing, watching me. But with the last test I had was clean and neat and showing no cancer at all."

And, of course, there is the matter of Bruno's upcoming trial, his second on federal mail fraud charges surrounding consulting deals he had with an Albany-area lobbyist while he was in the Senate. He was convicted of two felonies in 2009, but the convictions were tossed -- but allowed to be re-tried -- after the Supreme Court threw out a portion of the "theft of honest services" statute he was convicted under.

"On the advice of my counsel, they suggest that I not share thoughts about what's going on," he said.

Without missing a beat, Bruno, the ever loquacious politician, went on to share thoughts about what's going on.

"But what is going on is beyond my power to comprehend, because the allegations are nine years old," he said. "Nine years. I always thought the statute of limitations was five years. And I was declared innocent twice -- once by the Supreme Court, and again by the Second Circuit -- declared totally innocent of any wrongdoing. They see fit to circle back around and re-indict me, and that's their prerogative, which I think is terribly unfortunate."